How to grow wild plums from seeds.

eukofiosJune 16, 2012

A friend in Georgia mailed some wild plum seeds to me. I would like to grow them. I also live near some wild plum trees, the plums are the size of a sweet cherry, yellow, and very tasty. I suspect they are also wild, and seed grown trees might be interesting.

Instructions are conflicting. I see some that say scarify the seeds by sanding them. Some say stratify the seeds for 90days, then plant them. That would put planting in september. Other instructions say don't let them dry out.

I know they may not yield edible plums, or it may take 7 years or so, but I would like to try anyway. Does anyone on this forum have experience growing plums from seeds? What do you advise? What was your experience with seed grown plums - did you get trees, and did they provide fruits? My current experience with seed-grown trees includes ginkgos (very successful), maples (you can't miss), wild cherries (accidentally let the little trees dry out and die. I could kick myself).

I haven't had good luck holding pits over to plant in fall, I think they tend to dry out too much inside. I do better if I just plant them right away, and forget about them until the next spring. Be sure to mark the planting site with a stake, and if they are particularly valuable, plant them inside a cylinder of hardware cloth half sunk into the ground so animals don't get them.